President Trump: "We have a great relationship with the Kurds... I think the president Erdogan has a great relationship with the Kurds."

yes, that is why Kurdish people were throwing potatos at the Military as they left and why Erdogan is more or less committing an act of genocide , because you both have such a great relationship with them

Bill Taylor: "President Zelensky is very sensitive to the views of Ukrainian people, who indeed are very attentive to Ukraine and U.S. politics."

not sure if that was in response to this but i did hear someone in the GOP saying that if they impeach Trump over the Ukraine call then they have to admit that President Zelensky is a lair who said he wasn't pressured, which can easily be pointed out that no world leader is going to ever admit they were pressured by another foreign power

Trump threatening to fire Mulvaney

you probably don't need to click on the link to know why he wants to, but i'll quote anyway

> President Trump has reportedly been threatening to fire acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for weeks over recent missteps amid the House’s impeachment investigation.

> White House Advisor Stephen Miller Just Got Outed for Explicit White Supremacists E-mails

Oh, "outed".

Misread that as "ousted".

never mind, carry on, business as usual

*googles name*

> Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller shaped the 2016 election coverage of the hard right-wing website Breitbart......

yeh enough said

breaking news stephen miller is a white supremacist

@murgatroid99 It's not specifically a right-wing meme, it's a meme that has a specific implication in the right-wing sphere that the Clintons have their political enemies assassinated

It's one of those things where the bad dentist will just say he's joking (he did) and that's all well and good until someone who thinks he isn't starts sending more pipe bombs

> The @FBI has arrested Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh -- an associate of Atomwaffen leader Kaleb Cole -- after a traffic stop in Texas. The two men were traveling together when authorities pulled their car over

> State Dept watchdog finds that Iran policy chief Brian Hook & others retaliated against a staffer in part because of her Iranian-American heritage. And a different staffer fires back at the watchdog

I regret to inform you the President is awake

> Walmart announces great numbers. No impact from Tariffs (which are contributing $Billions to our Treasury). Inflation low (do you hear that Powell?)!

That's not how any of that works, of course

Scoop: Erdogan upends Oval meeting to play anti-Kurd film on iPad

Quick, someone show him another video, so that's not the last one Trump saw!

Siri play baby shark

> The MTA reveals the four-year price tag for its 500 new cops: $249 million

@TimStone Half a million per? What kind of salaries are they pulling?

Note that it's the four year price tag, but yeah, at ~$125k/year

There's likely some "administrative overhead" and overtime pay included in that number

> Including holiday pay, longevity pay, uniform allowance, night differential and overtime, police officers may potentially earn over $100,000 per year

@TimStone To be fair, some of our local cops are super highly paid.

I think a five year constable pulls $90k+?

Yeah, New York is obviously not a cheap place to be either

But the majority of the city budget goes towards that; their union got some super good deals.

But it does seem extremely excessive relative to the thing they're there for!

So that guy who had 850 guns didn't actually kill himself, and the cops gave him back all his guns

Great. I love knowing that house exists in my city

Looks like the store is overwhelmed at the moment, but I need me one of these mugs:

And, somehow, pension got indexed to their five highest earning years. So, they rig it so they pull insane amounts of overtime for several years right before retirement.

> State Rep. Poncho Nevárez was caught on tape at the airport dropping an envelope stuffed with cocaine, according to an affidavit filed by Texas DPS

Way too many reaction/analysis pieces on the impeachment hearings out there, but this one seems to (in my opinion) capture the key angle:

Impeachment Is Not a Fair Fight, and on Day One It Showed: There’s only so much Republicans can do when Democrats have all the evidence they need.

@BradC Hard to really feel sorry for them, though.

@Frank Yeah, no sympathy from me.

The problem is going to be breaking away enough of the GOP in the Senate to push it through.

Without that, the whole process is a grand play.

> If it looked like House Republicans were throwing a lot of mud at the wall to see what might stick during the first day of public impeachment hearings, that’s because they had settled into a strategy many defense attorneys adopt when the prosecution has the goods on their client—confuse the issues and distract the audience from the evidence at hand.

@Frank Not sure what you mean by "grand play" exactly; that it isn't worth doing if the Senate won't vote to remove?

If so, I both agree and disagree: I think there is strategic advantage in putting GOP senators in the impossible position of either voting against the Trump base or voting to allow obvious corruption

@BradC It's a lot of pomp and circumstance, and nothing will change.

None of this is going to break anyone away from Trump's base; he can do no wrong for them.

Just hoping that enough of the Republicans in the Senate retain enough of their conscience and morality to vote to impeach.

@Frank Hard to predict how it will all play out, but even with a Senate acquittal, I actually think "everything goes back to (what we previously endured as) normal" is lower on the list of possibilities

@BradC How so?

Trump will see that acquittal as evidence that his antics are untouchable.

And it'll just get worse.

@Frank Redoubling of passion among voters on the left; to not only defeat Trump but to defeat the GOP senators that kept him in power, is one (strong) possibility

@Frank I agree that Trump will take it as a green light. He already has, frankly (the Ukraine call was 1 day after the Mueller hearing)

I think Trump's own behavior is one of the biggest wildcards; what will he do when the trial gets to the Senate? How blatantly will he continue to obstruct?

@BradC That'll depend on just how honest the hearing is on the articles of impeachment, I'm guessing.

The house will murder him. The senate may not (okay, will not) see it the same way, and try to slant things as being, "not that bad".

Clearly I'm hoping for removal as well, but I've long since given up on Republicans finding their spine

@Frank But the House is the prosecution in the Senate trial

@BradC Oh, it's not a completely separate trial?

So yeah, they'll have to live within the rules the Senate makes, but they should still have an opportunity to present their case

I thought each section debated it among themselves.

Nope, let me find the clause...

Ok, found it. Not in the text of the constitution itself, but via precedent:

> In impeachment proceedings, the House of Representatives charges an official of the federal government by approving, by majority vote, articles of impeachment. A committee of representatives, called “managers,” acts as prosecutors before the Senate. The Senate sits as a High Court of Impeachment in which senators consider evidence, hear witnesses, and vote to acquit or convict the impeached official.

More detail in wikipedia:

@BradC With an impartial audience, I think it's a given that Trump would be impeached.

I wonder how many of the GOP have already made up their minds, and will ignore all evidence?

> If the House votes to impeach, managers (typically referred to as "House managers", with a "lead House manager") are selected to present the case to the Senate. Recently, managers have been selected by resolution, while historically the House would occasionally elect the managers or pass a resolution allowing the appointment of managers at the discretion of the Speaker. These managers are roughly the equivalent of the prosecution or district attorney in a standard criminal trial.

@Frank As many as believe they can get away with it. Which will be influenced, to a large degree, but public opinion

An interesting system. I'm not sure we have the equivalent in Canada.

(Which is why the House is doing public hearings now, when they already have more than enough to vote on articles of impeachment)

@BradC Don't forget those that will retire at the end of their term.

@Frank Right, but even then its hard to say. Does retiring mean they necessarily get a conscience and do the right thing? Or does it mean they do what they must to keep their cred for whatever right-wing think tank they hope to earn millions from after leaving office?

Which one of them doesn't already have millions?

Jeff Flake, upon announcing his retirement, was very slightly more likely to send out a mildly critical tweet, but he never voted against any Trump proposal.

@BradC Retiring means they don't need to hold their tongue in order to retain their voters who want Trump to stay in power

So it means they have a slightly greater tendency to vote for the good of the nation, rather than for the good of their party

@Nzall Hypothetically speaking, you might be correct. But I'll believe it when I see it. And we haven't seen it thus far, even in those who have already announced they aren't re-running.

I'd see it as more a way to double-down on their personal beliefs, without needing to fear the consequences.

The only Republican to (in my opinion) take a principled stand after seeing the incriminating evidence in the Mueller report (Justin Amash), was immediately kicked out of the GOP

Which my cynical side says is more about enriching themselves and their buddies than the country.

like, within a week

> Shooting reported at a high school in Santa Clarita, near Los Angeles, authorities say

> Parents are feeding their kids turpentine and then sharing pictures of their poop on Facebook, claiming they got rid of the "worms" their kids had. This is a form of mass hysteria called "delusional parasitosis." Facebook is aiding its exponential spread

jfc

@Unionhawk Look, I thought it was news because I misread it as "ousted".

Got my hopes up.

And the headlines thought it was news because they've been giving him the benefit of the doubt the whole time

@Unionhawk Libel and slander are everpresent worries for the media.

Truth and opinion are the two pretty ironclad defenses though

@Unionhawk After you pay lawyers to defend you, sure.

Yeah, people's brains are so broken :|

@Frank the new york times and friends almost definitely have inside counsel

@Unionhawk Good point. I hadn't considered that angle.

Like I understand being averse to that risk

But also like, come on

The man may as well have been wearing a neon sign

Let's not forget the part where Stephen Miller used to be Jeff Sessions' aide and just sent shit like that directly to members of the media

"The Senator would like to do racisms, please see this supporting evidence"

> Peak 2019: Pelosi changes subject from impeachment to DACA policy but cable has to cut away to report on school shooting

We live in hell

> M7.4 #quake strikes in Molucca Sea, 133 km NW of Kota Ternate, #Indonesia, according to @USGS

@TimStone Must be a day that ends in Y... fucking christ.

LOL: serious shade by Pelosi

> "If the president has something that is exculpatory -- Mr. President, that means you have anything that shows your innocence -- then he should make that known ... so far we haven't see that."

Ouch

I wonder if Trump is smart enough to catch that.

> 2nd US embassy official overheard President Trump’s call with Sondland about need for Ukraine investigations

Studio Ghibli begins new company to oversee theme park

@TimStone Shooter appears to have committed suicide

Sounds like six injured, three of which are in critical condition

So no deaths yet?

None reported that I'm aware of

Besides the shooter themselves

> Veneto regional council in Venice is flooded for the first time in its history after rejecting measures to combat climate change

🤷‍♂️

@TimStone why did I look at the comments?

How the hell does anyone still think Climate change isn't a thing?

Everything is just really, really bad

@Wipqozn Narrow view of the world.

impeachment, tsunami, school shooting, DACA hanging by a thread, wildfires, polar vortexes wandering where they don't belong... What's not to love?

Some of it is, "We don't do enough to make a difference, so let someone else deal with it", some of it is, "It ain't a problem here, so therefore, doesn't exist."

@TimStone Oh, apparently not?

> MH17 evidence released today goes all the way to the Kremlin

> Gov. Matt Bevin concedes the governor's race, says he won't contest results

/cc @Unionhawk, Bevin admits he's out

@Ash He couldn't hold it back anymore.

Turned away and slammed the door.

@TimStone yeah last I saw 79/120 counties were like "yeah we recanvassed and found exactly the same result"

I still don't know what recanvas means

@Unionhawk Re-canvasing is just making sure the votes were submitted correctly from each precinct

Without re-counting ballots

Like "check your totals and make sure you actually sent us the correct values"

(its a specific provision in KY law, that's not a universal use of the term)

"hey we know that you probably just copy pasted the value out of the automated system and there's no real reason why it should have changed, but"

conspicuously hands the county board of elections chair a $5 bill are you sure andy won

oh you are still ok

Yep. Just makes sure they didn't paste the same value twice or something weird

stack exchange network was down for a minute there

Looks ok now

Hmm Deval Patrick firing people who wanted to put his brother on a sex offender list and then his brother going to do more sex offenses seems like a bad look idk

lol Ammon Bundy tried to get people to come protect the Nickersons from getting evicted but he apparently got there and realised "Oh you actually didn't pay your mortgage?"

Senate Confirms Wildly Problematic Trump Court Pick Steven Menashi

> The Senate voted Thursday to make Steven Menashi a lifetime federal judge, despite his inflammatory writings about women’s rights and diversity, his refusal to answer senators’ questions and his role in devising an illegal Education Department effort to deny debt relief to students cheated by for-profit colleges.

@BradC It's heartwarming that all of the Republicans are willing to chip in so Susan Collins can try to avoid being a complete hypocrite while still being a complete hypocrite.

Ontario Spent at least $10M on cannabis stores that never opened

Thanks douggie!

Ohio House passes bill allowing student answers to be scientifically wrong due to religion

@BradC wtf

> The Ohio House on Wednesday passed the "Student Religious Liberties Act." Under the law, students can't be penalized if their work is scientifically wrong as long as the reasoning is because of their religious beliefs.

Only one house of 2, so not passed into law yet

@BradC That's a misinterpretation of the law

twitter.com/ASFleischman/status/1195086929320120320

@Nzall oh

Question is: how many students are actually writing down religious concerns on tests, without letting those concerns seep through into their response?

@Nzall Eh, not sure those in charge of enforcing it would split hairs quite that finely if eventually enacted.

@Nzall Right; viewed one way, its a bad bill. Viewed the other way, its an unnecessary bill

Love me a story about tax breaks for the poor going to a superyacht marina